LAW.
This little word can stir a lot of emotion. Most of the guys that came through the rehab where I worked had seen a judge or the back seat of a police car. Many saw 'the law' as a personal enemy, a conspiracy, a system set up specifically to restrict their fun and freedom.
No one has exemplified this negative view of law better than Rick.
He was one of the most angry, restless souls I ever come across. He had the words 'F... the law' tattooed on his belly and the symbol for 'anarchy' above it. During our first discussion it was clear his tattoos were more than a bit of 'body art', they were his creed. To counter his utter contempt for rules and authority I asked a question, “What's your favourite sport?”. Rick was happy to answer. I then asked him to imagine I had never heard of this game and explain it without using rules. He was completely stumped. Everything he wanted to say about his beloved game was based on laws. The field had to be a certain size, the ball a certain shape, the play a certain time. Not only that, the rules were what made his favourite players. Their particular game skill was developed by the governing laws. The rules of the game define and validate a particular sporting ability. When laws are broken or not upheld by bad refereeing it destroys the glory of the game for everybody, players and fans alike.
Music, that other great human preoccupation, also adheres to certain laws.
What would Handel's Messiah be without regard for pitch? Or Bach's Mass in B Minor without concern for timing? The laws of rhythm and melody define music and differentiate it from random noise. The rules of music give us freedom to write and guide creativity to what is 'good'. The transcendent, emotional power of music depends on obedience to law!
Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane...
1 Timothy 1:8-9a
Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
1 John 3:4
Lawlessness not only destroys sport and music, it destroys life.
Rick was a perfect example. He didn't 'F... the law'. The law was still intact. It was him who was, as he said, 'F@#%ed'. It was his life that was 'anarchy'. Breaking God's moral law had made him miserable and restless. This is something I consistently witnessed in the rehab world. The most selfish, lawless people are always the most twisted and tormented.
Where does 'the Spirit' in Galatians 5:18 lead us?
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:18-23
Out from under the law into harmony with it! 'The works of the flesh' (sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, etc) are outside the moral lines and rightly incur a penalty. We were designed to play, as C.S. Lewis says, God's 'holy game'. There are no laws against love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (verse 23). Why? Because that's what the game of life is about! What skill/ discipline is to a game of sport so the 'fruit of the Spirit' are to the game of life. Just as there are no limits on how well one can run or kick a ball there are also no limits on how well one practices the virtues, which is to become like Christ.
Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me! My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times.
Psalm 119:18-20
Laws are not burdensome when the heart is right and love has taken hold.
Wedding vows are a great example. The most virtuous, godly way for a man and a woman to celebrate and legitimise their love is a wedding. A wedding is essentially about the vows, it would be pointless without them. Wedding vows are noble, beautiful laws we all love to hear, especially the father of the bride! They list things that true lovers will and will not do. Vows set honourable boundaries for love to express itself. They don't restrict and stifle. Wedding vows protect and nurture, not just the couple that make them, but the children that are to follow.
Law has been with us from the beginning.
It wasn't an emergency system God put in place to deal with mankind's rebellion. In the pristine, sinless world of Genesis 2:16-17 we read:
'And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."'
This decisive law helped validate love and free the will. It only became a problem when pride entered the heart and love was pushed aside. There is a timeless law against pride that covers heaven and earth. There is no tolerance policy on pride because it is the original, cosmic sin and any being, be it men, angels or 'living creatures' who commit themselves to it will surely die to love and all they were created to be.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Titus 2:11-14 (emphases mine)
Law is not our enemy, there would be no music, sport, or life for that matter, without it. Lawlessness is the problem, and according to Titus, that is what Christ came to save us from. True grace does not excuse sin (which is lawlessness). God's grace trains us to 'renounce ungodliness and worldly passions' (verse 11).
So let's play God's holy game and stop testing the rules. It's time to practice love, joy, peace, patience, kindness goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, against these foundational virtues there are no laws or limits!
(all Bible quotes from the ESV)